Rolling Stone and Messenger: An APAHM Rooms Conversation

This Asian American Pacific American Heritage Month, Rolling Stone celebrates the diversity and impact of Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) while also raising awareness of issues the community has faced for decades. This month and beyond, we’re amplifying API voices, celebrating the vibrancy and impact of the community, and sharing new ways we’re providing support.

In this spirit, and in partnership with Rolling Stone, Messenger has released “Artist on Artist: A Rolling Stone Conversation,” a dialogue between Raveena and Yeek: two friends, musicians, and members of the API community. The conversation — which took place in a Messenger Room, and was facilitated by Rolling Stone editor Tim Chan — set an intimate tone around their journeys as artists and the uniquely specific experience of growing up Asian in America.

Raveena and Yeek pull the curtain back on their friendship and dig in on how they found common ground over shared eclectic taste in music. They also talk about growing up Asian in different cities in America and address what it feels like to be perceived as an Asian artist as opposed to simply an artist.

Raveena is a singer and songwriter whose family immigrated from India to Queens, where she was raised in a traditional Sikh household. She was influenced by R&B, soul, jazz, and folk music growing up and these genres inform her musical style today. A highly creative, dynamic, and spiritual artist, Raveena builds fully-realized worlds with each project. Her new single “Tweety” is pushing toward a more upbeat and experimental sound, threaded together by a story of healing, expression and Indian folklore.

Yeek is an L.A.-based singer and songwriter who produces, mixes, and masters his music solo. Since his songs are personal and defy genre classification, he prefers this working style. Yeek’s parents were born in the Philippines, and he grew up in South Florida listening to a wide range of music. He cites his older brother listening to metal as his earliest memories of music.

Rolling Stone has been a consistent voice around trends in art, music, and popular culture for decades, so we couldn’t think of a better partner to lead a thoughtful discussion in a Messenger Room about the API musician experience.

To hear these inspiring musicians open up in a Messenger Room, check out Rolling Stone’s Facebook page. You can also Watch Together with your friends by simply starting a Messenger video call or creating a Messenger Room then swiping up to access the menu and select Watch Together. From there you can select which content you’d like to view.

Messenger Rooms, which are joinable group video calls that make it easy to spend quality time with friends, loved ones and people who share your interests. Create a room right from Messenger or Facebook, and invite anyone to join, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Rooms hold up to 50 people with no time limit. To learn more about the ways Facebook and Messenger are supporting the Asian and Pacifc Islander Community, please read more here.

This story was created in paid partnership with Messenger Rooms.